Russian uses phonetic transcription for the Cyrillization of its many loanwords from French. Some use is made of Cyrillic's iotation features to represent French's front rounded vowels and etymologically-softened consonants.
Consonants
In the table below, the symbol ⟨ʲ⟩ represents either a "softened" consonant or the approximant /j/. When applicable, a softened consonant can be indicated in transcription either by a following iotated vowel or by ⟨ь⟩.
| French | Russian transcription |
Examples | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| phoneme(s) | grapheme(s) | |||
| b | б | bateau-lavoir – бато-лавуар | ||
| ch | ш | Charles – Шарль | ||
| d | д | Bordeaux – Бордо | ||
| f, ph | ф | Foucault – Фуко | ||
| g, gu | г | Guillaume – Гийом | ||
| gn | нь | Boulogne – Булонь | ||
| – | h | – | Humanité – Юманите | |
| г | Hugo – Гюго Le Havre – Гавр |
often in the case of h aspiré | ||
| j, g(e) | ж | Jean – Жан | ||
| c, qu, k | к | Camus – Камю | ||
| l | ль | Gilbert – Жильбер | before a consonant or at the end of a word | |
| л | Louvre – Лувр | before vowels | ||
| li | ль | Montpellier – Монпелье | ||
| m | м | monde – монд | ||
| n | н | Rhône – Рона | ||
| ng | нг | |||
| p | п | Pierre – Пьер | ||
| r | р | Renoir – Ренуар | ||
| s, ç, c | с | Rousseau – Руссо | ||
| ti | сь | Libération – Либерасьон | ||
| t | т | pointe – пуэнт | ||
| v | в | Verlaine – Верлен | ||
| w | в | Gwénaël – Гвенаэль | sometimes transliterated with ⟨у⟩ in loanwords from English | |
|
x | кс кз |
Xavier – Ксавье Saint-Exupéry – Сент-Экзюпери |
according to the pronunciation of the ⟨x⟩ |
| y, i, il(l) | й | yeuse – йёз Bayard – Байяр Guillaume – Гийом |
after a vowel or word-initially | |
| ь | Lavoisier – Лавуазье | after a consonant | ||
| il(l) | ль | Marseille – Марсель | frozen form | |
| z, s | з | Vierzon – Вьерзон | ||
Doubled French consonants remain doubled in their Russian transcription: Rousseau – Руссо. Silent consonants (common in French) are generally not transcribed, except where they exist in the surface form due to liaison.
Vowels
| French | Russian transcription |
Examples | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| phoneme(s) | grapheme(s) | |||
| , | a, â | а | Charles – Шарль | |
| , | é, è, ê, ai, e | е | René – Рене | |
| э | Edmond – Эдмон Citroën – Ситроэн |
at the beginning of a word, following a vowel, or rarely for at the end of a word | ||
| , | eu, œ, œu | ё | Villedieu – Вильдьё | ⟨ё⟩ is generally simplified to ⟨е⟩ in Russian |
| э | Eugène – Эжен Maheu – Маэ |
at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel | ||
| , — | e | – | Charles – Шарль | e muet |
| е | De Gaulle – Де Голль | only in cases where is usually pronounced, e.g., le, de, que, rebelle, etc. | ||
| i, y | и | Village – Виляж | ||
| , | o, au, ô | o | Rhône – Рона | |
| oi | уа | Troyes – Труа | ||
| , | ou | у | Louvre – Лувр | |
| , [ɥ] | u | ю | L'Humanité – Юманите | |
| an, am, en, em | ан, ам | Ambroise – Амбруаз Occidental – Оксиданталь |
nasal vowels are written as the corresponding oral vowel followed by /n/ (or /m/ before /m, b, p/) | |
| in, en, ain | ен, ем, эн, эм | Saintes – Сент Ain – Эн | ||
| on, om | он, ом | Comte – Конт | ||
| un | ен, ем, эн, эм | Verdun – Верден | ||
| oin | уэн | pointe – пуэнт | ||
Finally, the softened consonants modify the following vowels:
| hard Russian vowel | softening | Examples | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| After a vowel or ⟨й⟩ | After a consonant or ⟨ь⟩ | |||
| ʲа | я | cognac – коньяк Bayard – Байяр |
||
| ʲе ; ʲё | ие, йе ; йё | ье ; ьё | trieur – триер Cahiers du cinéma – Кайе дю синема Richelieu – Ришелье |
|
| э | ⟨э⟩ never follows a softened consonant | |||
| ʲи | йи | ьи | Tilly – Тийи | |
| ʲо | йо | ьо | Chillon – Шильон | |
| ʲу | ю | |||
| ʲю | йю | ью | ||
| ʲ | before a consonant or at the end of a word, softening is written with ⟨ь⟩ | |||
Neither ⟨й⟩ nor ⟨ь⟩ are doubled.
Bibliography
- Paul Garde, La Transcription des noms propres français en russe, Paris, Institut d'études slaves, 1974, 63 pages, 25 cm, collection « Documents pédagogiques de l'Institut d'études slaves » n° X, ISBN 2-7204-0090-4
| Transliteration and transcription into Cyrillic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Existing systems |  | |
| Standards | ||